novelraw Chapter 1401 - 757: Dave's Summoning
Chapter 1401 - 757: Dave's Summoning
While Jimmy was struggling with the direction of the investigation, Mark and Wright were not idle either. Although they weren't in charge of the case, they had handled many cases before, so they were quite experienced. Trapped on the island with not much else to do but make phone calls, they both involuntarily worked overtime to re-check the surveillance videos they'd viewed earlier. Then Mark discovered a seemingly insignificant issue in the surveillance.
"Knock knock..." Holding a laptop, Mark got up and went to Jimmy's room to knock on the door. Jimmy walked over, opened the door, and asked, "What's up?"
Mark, looking pleasantly surprised, said, "I found a problem; a surveillance video has been tampered with."
As he spoke, he stepped into Jimmy's room. The two sat by the table, watching as Mark replayed a surveillance video. "Look here, the video timestamp jumps, and the scene looks different from before with significant light changes. If I'm not wrong, this segment in the video has been altered by someone."
It was an outdoor surveillance, not at the dock. It happened to be the day of the banquet since it was daytime; they might not have noticed before while checking the video. The shadows of the plants here had shifted, quite possibly cut from a later period or another date and directly superimposed. This means during this period, the surveillance might have recorded certain contents.
Jimmy went out and called Wright over to take a look as well. "Wright, those tech support staff are still around; see if they can try to find the original video."
Wright nodded, regardless of the current time, he went out directly. The tech support staff lived in another building; going to them was more convenient than calling, making communication easier.
Seeing Wright leave, Jimmy patted Mark, "Mark, I'm giving you a task: investigate the Harriton Family's situation. Do they have direct competitors? Have they had any recent commercial or other aggressive behaviors? If you face difficulties, have Wright arrange personnel for you."
Mark: "You still suspect this explosion case is a hire-for-murder?"
Jimmy: "That's the biggest possibility. You investigate his network and commercial disputes, while I investigate whether there have been any other ships around the island and near the explosion point. We have a lot to do, so we'll have to split up the investigation."
Mark: "I understand, are we about to leave?"
Jimmy: "Give me a little more time; I'll search the island once more tomorrow. If there are no other leads, we'll leave soon to start investigating other clues."
Mark nodded, saying no more. There were many things to investigate indeed; they were quite understaffed. Especially the people who originally supported them now became support personnel for the nearby kidnapping case, which was easy to conclude, and the case was very serious, with significant credit at stake. They were just too realistic.
Wright returned quickly. The technicians also had the same video copies, enough for them to handle themselves. However, according to them, since the video was loop-recorded on the hard disk, there's mostly no chance of finding the original video.
Fueled by the excitement of new discoveries, Jimmy directly arranged what they needed to do next. Mark and Wright confirmed with others again based on the images found in the dock surveillance. Jimmy would go around the island again at dawn to try to find any clues outside. Regardless of the outcome, they'll soon be leaving here.
Due to the sudden investigation of the case and surrounding environmental influences, not all security personnel, servants, and cleaners on the island were organized for questioning. The villa and other rooms here were directly used for temporary detainment of people and preliminary investigation. This facilitated Mark and Wright's questioning of others, especially after discovering that security guard's body; they re-interrogated those security personnel to figure out what was missing in the surveillance and if those nearby security personnel noticed any anomalies. In short, their tasks would be hefty.
Jimmy's re-investigation on the island was of no particular significance for the explosion case suspect. Looking at it currently, the suspect seemed very cautious and careful, likely leaving no useful traces. Still, it was part of the investigation content, which cannot be completely excluded.
The island wasn't big; Jimmy searched around the small cliff he discovered before in the villa area, including where the body was found, trying to recreate the suspect's action process. However, no other clear lead was found.
Mark got a bit of information from a Cleaner, who stated that after the banquet, they found a shovel with damp soil on it. But since it's a commonly used tool, they thought it had been used by someone else without cleaning, so they simply washed it and put it back, not paying attention.
Days had passed, the tools had been used, and after forensic personnel extracted the fingerprints on it and went for confirmation, they found besides the Cleaner's fingerprints, there were also Jimmy and Wright's fingerprints, creating an awkward situation. One of the two shovels Jimmy casually picked up happened to be the one identified by the Cleaner.
The next day, the three arrived at the dock with their luggage. Two ships were already in position. They were to leave first; other agents and detained individuals would all leave today as well. Harriton's wife and other suspects had been arranged to go to the Miami office, as the complete investigation of their kidnapping case needed to return for another part of the inquiry.